Before falling asleep, Laura’s parents gave us more Christmas gifts, besides the ones that they had shipped to us. They were great gifts and completely unexpected including an original Nutcracker that she bought for us while she was in Germany.

After having an airplane seat as my bed on New Year’s Eve, it felt good to sleep in an actual bed last night. I slept like a rock with the exception of my niece, Emma, waking up for a while in the middle of the night.

I woke up considerably more sore today especially in my chest from the 250 push-ups. Though I was scheduled to workout today I didn’t end up making it to the gym.

It was a day filled with celebrating Laura’s 30th birthday starting out with a blueberry pancake breakfast and ending with a spoon roast dinner.

Laura’s two best friends came over to hang out and they went out for lunch. One of them came up from Maryland while the other came out from Boston.

It was really nice of them to make the trip and I know that Laura really enjoyed spending time with them. While Laura was hanging out with them, one of my best friends came over to hang out for the day.

Laura said that she had a great birthday even though she was dreading turning 30.

Not only did we want to make it memorable for her because it was her 30th, but also because she is an incredible woman who I am lucky to spend my life with. She means the world to me and my life wouldn’t be the same without her in it therefore I wanted to make today special for her.

As I said one year ago:

"It was the least that I could do for someone who has gone through every step of this journey with me. This has never been a “me” battle but, rather, an “us” battle. And for the 7 weeks that her mom lived with us, that “us” included her as well.

She slept at my bedside in an uncomfortable convertible couch for 12 nights.

She worked full-time while coming home to take care of things throughout the day that her mom couldn’t help with (e.g. help me going to the bathroom).

Laura has been there for me when I’ve had my weak moments, when I’ve been scared and when I’ve gone through the worse pain or frustrations that I could imagine.

And several other instances of her being there for us as we’ve had to face each new hurdle.

Today was a chance to shine the spotlight on her. To celebrate her and to say thank you."

Tomorrow we’ll celebrate our niece’s first birthday. It’s fun having their birthdays on back-to-back days and I’m really glad that we’re able to be in CT for the celebrations.